Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (Spanish pronunciation: [feli'?jano 'lope? 'ði.a? '?era];[2][a] born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish professional tennis player on the ATP Tour. He was born in Toledo and now lives in the Spanish capital, Madrid. López achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015.[3]

In 2005, he was the first male Spanish tennis player to reach the quarter-finals of Wimbledon since 1972, when Manuel Orantes reached the semi-finals. He repeated the feat in 2008 and 2011. López defeated Tim Henman at the 2007 Wimbledon second round in what would be Henman's last Wimbledon match. Throughout his career, he has played in the most five-set matches that have gone beyond 6-6, his longest fifth set being 16-14 at the 2009 Australian Open against Gilles Müller. He reached the quarter-finals of the US Open in 2015,[4] and won his first Grand Slam title at the 2016 French Open when he won the men's doubles title with Marc López. In 2017 at the age of 35 López won the Aegon Championship at The Queen's Club, London, beating Marin ?ili? in a third set tiebreak.

Playing style

López is left-handed and uses a single-handed backhand. He is known for his strong serve and ability to play balls repeatedly on the baseline, and is also a confident net player and has been known to serve and volley. Unlike most Spanish players, who almost always prefer clay courts due to the popularity of that surface in their country, López is an exceptionally strong grass-court player, with three quarter-final runs at Wimbledon (his strongest Grand Slam showing), as well as a titles on grass at the Aegon International in 2013, 2014 and 2017. This is due in part to his more traditional playing style, which is more like grass-court legends Pete Sampras and Roger Federer than fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal. This traditional arsenal includes a big serve and a willingness to come into the net.

Career

Early years

In 1997, Feliciano López made his pro circuit debut in Mallorca on 29 September, losing in the second round to Du?an Vemi?. In 1998, he made his ATP debut at the 1998 Open SEAT, where he lost to Ji?í Novák in the first round. He then competed on the Challenger circuit, making the quarter-finals of Spain F7 and Spain F8. In 1999, he competed on the Futures and Challenger circuits. He won his first Futures event in Spain F6, beating Pedro Canovas in the final. He also reached one other final, losing to Réginald Willems at the Spain F7.

2002-2005

In 2002, López competed on the ATP circuit regularly. He started the year with his first semi-final at the 2002 ATP Buenos Aires, losing to Nicolás Massú. He followed it up with a quarter-final appearance at the 2002 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, losing to Antony Dupuis. He also reached the second round of the Miami Masters, losing to Àlex Corretja in the final. He then won his first Grand Slam match at the 2001 French Open, defeating Didac Pérez in five sets, before losing to third seed Tommy Haas in straight sets. In his Wimbledon debut, he reached the fourth round, losing to André Sá four sets, after defeating Guillermo Cañas in five sets with the fifth going to 10-8, in the second round, a match that lasted 3 hours and 40 minutes. This was his first win over a top-20 player. He then gained revenge for his loss to Sá by defeating him in López's US Open debut in the first round in straight sets, before losing to Gastón Gaudio in the next round. He then reached the quarter-finals in Hong Kong and Tokyo. In Tokyo, he defeated Marat Safin in the second round, his first win over a top-5 player. He also reached the third round of the 2002 Madrid Masters, losing to Andre Agassi. He ended the year in the top 100 for the first time, at no. 62.

In 2003, López started the year with first-round exits at Doha and Auckland. He made his Australian Open debut, reaching the third round, but losing to Younes El Aynaoui in four sets. He performed badly in the first rounds in Milan, Marseille, and Rotterdam. He then reached the quarter-finals in Dubai, losing to Tommy Robredo, and in Estoril, losing to Max Mirnyi. He reached the second rounds of Indian Wells and Monte Carlo. In his second French Open, he lost to Mariano Zabaleta in straight sets. He once again reached the fourth round of Wimbledon, where he lost to Roger Federer in straight sets. He then reached two straight semi-finals in Stuttgart and Kitzbühel, losing both to eventual champion Guillermo Coria. He continued his form by reaching the quarter-finals at the 2003 Canada Masters, losing to David Nalbandian in straight sets. After early losses in Cincinnati, Long Island, the US Open, and Moscow, he reached the quarter-finals of Vienna, the Madrid Masters, and Basel. He ended the year with second-round exit at the Paris Masters, where he lost to Guillermo Coria, his fifth lost to Coria. He ended the year ranked no. 28.

López started the grass court season at the 2011 Aegon Open with a second round loss to Andy Roddick. At Wimbledon, López defeated Michael Berrer in the first round, former semi-finalist Rainer Schüttler in the second round, and former world no. 1 and three-time finalist Andy Roddick in the third round. In the fourth round, López stormed back from two sets to love down to take out Polish qualifier ?ukasz Kubot. In his third quarter-final appearance at Wimbledon, López lost to world no. 4 Andy Murray in straight sets.

López helped his country in the 2011 Davis Cup by beating American Mardy Fish in five sets. He was scheduled to play Andy Roddick in the fifth and final match, but Spain was already up 3-1 over the United States. Spain won that year's Davis Cup without his help, beating Argentina in the December final.

2012

López played in Sydney to tune up for the Australian Open. He had a bye in the first round, then lost to Julien Benneteau in straight sets in the second.

At the Australian Open, he beat John Isner in the third round to set up a match with eventual finalist Rafael Nadal in the fourth, but succumbed in straight sets.

He reached the semi-finals in Houston, where Isner took his revenge, beating López in three sets with two tie-breakers. In Barcelona, he beat Flavio Cipolla and Jarkko Nieminen, only to fall to compatriot David Ferrer in the quarter-finals. In Munich, he beat Australian Bernard Tomic in the quarter-finals, but was defeated by Philipp Kohlschreiber in the semi-finals. After his successes on clay, he had a disappointing grass season. At Wimbledon, he lost to Jarkko Nieminen in the first round.[5] Back on clay, he made the quarter-finals in Gstaad, only to be beaten by Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci.

At the US Open, he beat Robin Haase and compatriot Pablo Andújar, but could not stand up to eventual champion Andy Murray in the third round, against whom he lost in four sets with three tie-breakers. In Beijing, he beat Americans Ryan Harrison and Sam Querrey, before bowing again to Tsonga, retiring at 1-4 in the second set. In Shanghai, he defeated Kohlschreiber in straight sets to set up a meeting with Novak Djokovic, to whom he lost in straight sets.

2014: Fourth ATP title

López reached the final of the prestigious AEGON Championships in June and had a championship point against Grigor Dimitrov, but was eventually beaten in a deciding set tiebreak. However, one week later, López successfully defended his AEGON International title, defeating Richard Gasquet for the first time in six attempts, 7-5 in the deciding set.

López then continued his impressive grass-court form into the third Grand Slam of the year, Wimbledon. He saw off both Y?ichi Sugita and Ante Pavi? in straight sets in the first and second rounds, respectively. He then met John Isner in the third round. It was a match dominated by serve. López fought back from a set down to win 3 sets to 1, securing the first break of serve in the match in the penultimate game. López thus progressed to the fourth round, where he met Stan Wawrinka, the fifth seed. López lost, despite having several set points in the second-set tiebreak.

Modelling and endorsements

López has appeared as a model for the likes of Hugo Boss and Elle,[7][8] and endorses Braun shavers and L'Oréal products. He has professed to dislike being called a model, however, and states that he wants to be seen only as a tennis player.[9] He is endorsed by Ellesse tennis clothing since 2016 before that Joma was his endorser and Nike endorses his shoes.

Personal life

He was married to model Alba Carrillo from July 2015 to March 2017.[10][11]